State Capacity in Times of Unrest

State Response to Violence, Insurgency & Drug Trade from the Caucasus to Afghanistan

December 14, 2009

Panelists covered key issues including:

  • How has organized crime penetrated Central Asian state structures? What is the impact of this phenomenon on the state’s ability to serve its citizens?
  • How does low state capacity fuel the burgeoning opium trade in Afghanistan? What is the larger impact on Russia and the Central Asian states?
  • How does the prolonged insurgency in the Caucasus affect Russia and its neighbors?

The distinguished panelists for this event included:

DR. JASON LYALL is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Yale University. His research focuses on the dynamics of violence and sources of military effectiveness in insurgencies. He has conducted fieldwork in Russia and, most recently, Afghanistan.

DR. ERICA MARAT has analyzed a wide range of Eurasian issues, including labor migration, transnational organized crime & state capacity. Her recent work focuses on how the relationship between organized crime and the state have weakened political institutions, engendered violence, and sustained impoverishment of populations.

JOSHUA FOUST is a military intelligence analyst who specializes in the socio-cultural dynamics of irregular warfare. He has served as a defense and intelligence consultant for the U.S. government; his recent work focuses on how commercial, off-the-shelf technologies are exploited by insurgency movements.

Dr. Alexandra Vacroux, Program Officer of the SSRC and affiliate of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars moderated this event.

This webinar series is made possible through generous funding provided by the Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Office of Outreach Title VIII Program for Research and Training on Eastern Europe and Eurasia (Independent States of the Former Soviet Union).